Per the comment about our struggles in Florida and since Dorsett, our top rated recruit in the state of Florida over the years:
2025 Pringle #17
2024 Blount #8
2023 Mauigoa #2
2022 Kelly #11
2021 Taylor #1
2020 Chaney #12
2019 Payton #10
2018 Silvera #5
2017 Donaldson #13
2016 Richards #13
2015 Walton #13
2014 Thomas #3
2013 Burns #12
2012 Duke #3
Tragic list. Only time we got #1 was when covid ravaged recruiting
Just to expound a little bit further, changing the scope to include rankings at their positions, as well (Focusing only on top 15)
2012: Howard (#1 CB), Johnson (#3 RB), Hamilton (#5 DE), McCord (#9 DE), Bush (#10 S)
2013: Stacy Coley (#7 WR), Artie Burns (#12 CB)
2014: Thomas (#3 DE), McDermott (#3 OT), Yearby (#8 RB), Darling (#9 OG), Moten (#15 DT)
2015: Walton (#10 RB), Johnson (#13 S)
2016: Allison (#8 QB), Homer (#10 RB), Bruce (#11 WR), Bethel (#14 DE)
2017: Donaldson (#11 OT), Garvin (#11 DE), Perry “Da Gawd” (#7 DT-QB)
2018: Silvera (#3 DT), Scaife (#5 OT), Harris (#7 RB), Pope (#11 WR), Blades Jr (#12 CB), Hall (#15 S)
2019: Payton (#10 WR), Huff (#10 OLB), Harvey (#11 DE)
2020: Knighton (#10 RB), Chaney (#11 RB), Roberts (#13 DE)
2021: Williams (#1 S), Taylor (#4 DT), Seymour (#11 OG), Smith (#15 ATH)
2022: Kelly (#14 DL)
2023: Fletcher (#8 RB), Bain (#11 DE)
2024: Patterson (#6 S), Blount (#8 DL), Trader (#9 WR)
2025: Pringle (#7 RB)
*These were 247 Composite Ratings at their respective positions
*These were recruits who were listed in our proverbial State of Miami recruiting territories
*IMG was not included due to the nature of the school, & many kids that attend r not South Fla.
So a quick analyst of this:
1. I have a tier system regarding rankings, & it’s always predicated on where they are ranked based upon their respective positions:
-Tier 1 (Elite) ranked #1-5
-Tier 2 (Very Good) ranked #6-10
-Tier 3 (Good) ranked #11-15
2. Since 2012, as I’ve already known, there r some yrs South Fla positions r not ranked in the elite category. As an example, based upon the RB rankings of 2025, Pringle was #7 in the nation, but he was the #1 RB in the State of Fl.
Imho, one of the issues we’ve had in getting skill players drafted is we become too consumed w/ So. Fla, hamstringing our class.
Since 2012, out of 44 met criteria recruits:
We’ve only recruited 20% of players from So. Fla that ranked elite in their respective positions in the nation
We’ve recruited 41% in the tier 2 rankings
We’ve recruited 39% in the tier 3 rankings
That’s totality; if we strictly isolated skilled positions, we’ve only recruited two Tier 1 skilled players in the past 13 yrs, Duke & Howard, while recruiting 9 Tier 2 type players.
If u look at our results & the make up of our classes, this jives. We’ve not built a team that’s on the same national levels needed to compete, but it’s been good enough for the ACC, for sure. The issue is the lack of development + lack of elite players = mediocre results.